§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department to what extent his policy of reducing ans suspending gaol sentences on convicted criminals to reduce the pressure on prisons has been applied to non-convicted persons imprisoned and awaiting trial in terms of the numbers of non-convicted prisoners being released on bail.
§ Mr. MayhewThe decision on whether or not an unconvicted defendant should be released on bail is a matter for the criminal courts subject to the provisions of the Bail Act 1976. An indication of how the courts exercise their powers to grant bail can be found in Chapter 8 of "Criminal Statistics: England and Wales: 1980", which contains tables showing the number of persons remanded in custody as a percentage of the total number remanded.